About Rogers Hornsby, Sr.

Rogers Hornsby, Sr. (April 27, 1896 – January 5, 1963), nicknamed "The Rajah", was an American Major League Baseball infielder, manager, and coach who played 23 seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals (1915–1926, 1933), New York Giants (1927), Boston Braves (1928), Chicago Cubs (1929–1932), and St. Louis Browns (1933–1937). Hornsby accumulated 2,930 hits, 301 home runs, and a .358 batting average during his career, was named the National League (NL)'s Most Valuable Player (MVP) twice, and was a member of one World Series championship team.

Born and raised in Texas, Hornsby played for several semi-professional and minor league teams before starting his major league career with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1915. He remained with the Cardinals for 12 seasons, married twice during that time, won his first MVP award, and won a World Series with the team in 1926. After that season, he was traded to the New York Giants. He spent one season with them before getting traded to the Boston Braves, and he spent one season with the Braves before getting traded to the Chicago Cubs. He played with the Cubs for four years and won his second MVP award with them; the Cubs released him in 1932.

Hornsby re-signed with the Cardinals in 1933, but he was claimed off waivers by the St. Louis Browns during the season. He remained with the Browns until his final season in 1937. From 1925 to 1937, Hornsby had managed the teams that he had played for at least part of the time. After retiring as a player, Hornsby managed the Browns in 1952 and the Cincinnati Reds from 1952 to 1953. After his managerial career ended, he married a third time before his death in 1963.

Hornsby is considered one of the best hitters ever to play major league baseball. His career batting average of .358 is second only to Ty Cobb in major league history. He also won two Triple Crowns and batted .400 or more three times during his career. He is the only player to hit 40 home runs and bat .400 in the same year (1922). His batting average for the 1924 season was .424, a mark that no player has matched since. He was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1942.

Early life

Hornsby was born in Winters, Texas, the last of Ed and Mary (Rogers) Hornsby's six children. When Hornsby was two, his father died of unknown circumstances. Four years later, the surviving Hornsbys moved to Fort Worth, Texas, so Hornsby's brothers could get jobs in the meat packing industry to support the family.

Hornsby started playing baseball at a very young age; he once said, "I can't remember anything that happened before I had a baseball in my hand." He took a job with the Swift and Company Plant as a messenger boy when he was 10 years old, and he also served as a substitute infielder on its baseball team. By the age of 15, Hornsby was already playing for several semi-professional teams. He also played baseball for North Side High School until 10th grade, when he dropped out to take a full-time job at Swift and Company. While he was in high school, Hornsby also played alongside College Football Hall of Famer Bo McMillin on the football team.

Minor league career

In 1914, Hornsby had his older brother Everett, a minor league baseball player for many years, arrange for him to get a tryout with the Texas League's Dallas Steers. He made the team, but did not play in any games for the Steers; he was released after only two weeks. Following his dismissal, he signed with the Hugo Scouts of the Class D Texas-Oklahoma League as their shortstop for $75 a month. The Scouts went out of business a third of the way through the season, however, and Hornsby's contract was sold to the Denison Champions of the same league for $125. With both teams in 1914, Hornsby batted .232 and committed 45 errors in 113 games.

The Denison team changed its name to the Denison Railroaders and joined the Western Association in 1915. They also raised Hornsby's salary to $90 a month. Hornsby's average improved that season to .277 in 119 games, but he made 58 errors. Nonetheless, his contributions helped the Railroaders win the Western Association pennant. Following the season, a writer from The Sporting News wrote that Hornsby was one of fewer than a dozen Western Association players to show any major league potential.

St. Louis Cardinals

1915–1919

During spring training in 1915, the St. Louis Cardinals noticed Hornsby while they were playing an exhibition series against the Railroaders. The Cardinals had been struggling with finances, partly because of competition from the St. Louis Browns of the American League and the St. Louis Terriers of the Federal League. Because of this, Cardinals' manager Miller Huggins told the Cardinals' only scout, Bob Connery, to look for minor leaguers that might help the team to fill the club's roster. For this reason, the Cardinals purchased Hornsby's contract from Denison in September and added him to their major league roster, although his only professional baseball experience had been in Class D. Hornsby's first game came on September 10, when he relieved Art Butler at shortstop in a 7–1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. He started a game for the first time on September 13, and he got his first hit the next day against Rube Marquard of the Brooklyn Robins. Hornsby finished the season with a .246 average in 57 at-bats, while the Cardinals finished in sixth place in the NL.

Hornsby had been used as a shortstop in 1915, but the Cardinals picked up Roy Corhan from the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League to play at shortstop in 1916. However, Hornsby had a great performance in spring training, and a shoulder injury to Corhan and poor hitting by Butler, the other shortstop candidate, led to Hornsby being the starting shortstop on Opening Day. He had both runs batted in (RBI) in the Cardinals' 2–1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates that day. On May 14, he hit his first major league home run against Jeff Pfeffer of Brooklyn. Although he had started the year at shortstop, he played a game at every infield position before finally settling in at third base for much of the second half of the year. Late in the season, he missed 11 games with a sprained ankle. He finished 1916 with a .313 average, fourth in the National League, and he was one short of the league lead in triples with 15.

Corhan returned to San Francisco in 1917, and Butler was released, so Hornsby returned to the shortstop position. He was called away from the team on May 29 because his brother, William Hornsby, had been shot and killed in a saloon. Rogers attended the funeral on June 1 and returned to the Cardinals on June 3. With new stability in his defensive assignment that year, his batting statistics improved: his .327 batting average was second in the league, and he led the league in triples (17), total bases (253), and slugging percentage (.484).

Many baseball players were drafted to fight in World War I in 1918, but Hornsby was given deferment status by the government because he was supporting his family. During the offseason, Miller Huggins, unhappy with the Cardinals' management, left the team to manage the New York Yankees. He was replaced by Jack Hendricks, who had managed the Indianapolis Indians to a pennant in the American Association the previous year. However, Hornsby lacked confidence in Hendricks's ability to run the Cardinals, and the two men developed animosity towards each other. Under Hendricks, his batting average dipped to .281. He was still among the league leaders in triples and slugging percentage, but after the season ended, he announced that he would never play under Hendricks again. Hendricks was subsequently fired after the season and replaced by Branch Rickey, who was also the president of the Cardinals at that time. Hornsby's military draft status changed to Class 1 during the year, meaning he would have to either find a war-essential job or serve, but the war ended later that year, and Hornsby did not miss any playing time because of military service. During the year, on June 17, Hornsby hit a St. Louis citizen named Frank G. Rowe with his Buick when Rowe stepped out in front of traffic to cross an intersection. Rowe sued Hornsby for $15,000, but Hornsby eventually managed to settle for a smaller, undisclosed amount, and the case was dismissed. On September 23, he married Sarah Martin in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In 1919, Rickey tried converting Hornsby into a second baseman in spring training bcause of the Cardinals' acquisition of shortstop Doc Lavan, but Hornsby wound up playing at third base for most of the year. His batting average was low at the beginning of the season but improved by June. By the end of the year, his average of .318 was second highest in the league, and he also finished second in total bases and runs batted in.

1920–1926

In 1920, Rickey succeeded in moving Hornsby to second base, and he remained there for the rest of his career. He started the year with a 14-game hitting streak. On June 4, he had two triples and two RBI as the Cardinals defeated the Chicago Cubs 5–1. The game was significant because it ended Hall of Famer Grover Cleveland Alexander's 11-game winning streak; Alexander said of Hornsby after the game, "Hornsby is the greatest hitter I've ever had to face. I've tried to fool him every way possible, but it just cannot be done. Personally, I don't think a more skillful man ever stepped up to the plate." Hornsby finished the season with the first of seven batting titles by hitting .370, and he also led the league in on-base percentage (.431), slugging percentage (.559), hits (218), total bases (329), doubles (44), and RBI (94). During the offseason, his son Rogers Hornsby, Jr., was born.

The rise of the live-ball era helped Hornsby hit for increased power during the 1921 season. He hit .397 in 1921, and his 21 home runs were second in the league, and more than twice his total in any previous season. He also led the league in on-base percentage (.458), slugging percentage (.639), runs (131), RBI (126), doubles (44), and triples (18). The Cardinals had a Rogers Hornsby Day on September 30 before a home game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and they presented Hornsby with multiple awards before the game, including a baseball autographed by President of the United States Warren G. Harding. The Cardinals beat the Pirates 12–4 that day as Hornsby homered and had two doubles.

Prior to the 1922 season, Hornsby sought a three-year contract for $25,000 per season. After negotiating with management, he settled for a three-year, $18,500 contract, which still made him the highest paid player in league history. He then became the only player in history to hit over 40 home runs and bat over .400 in the same season. On August 5, Hornsby set a new National League record when he hit his 28th home run off of Jimmy Ring of the Philadelphia Phillies. From August 13 through September 19, he had a 33-game hitting streak. He finished the year with a new record of 42 home runs, and he also set NL records in hits (250) and slugging percentage (.722). He won the first of his two triple crowns that year, and he led the league in batting average (.401), RBI (152), on-base percentage (.459), doubles (46), and runs scored (141). His 450 total bases was the highest mark for any National League player during the 20th century. On defense, Hornsby led the league in putouts, double plays, and fielding percentage.

On June 12, 1923, Hornsby divorced his wife because he had been having an affair with another woman named Jeanette Pennington Hine. They were married on February 28, 1924. On May 8, he suffered an injury to his left knee in a game against the Phillies when he turned to make a throw. He returned 10 days later, but the injury still lingered, and he was removed from a game against the Pirates on May 26 to be examined by Robert Hyland, the Cardinals' physician. Hyland had Hornsby's knee placed in a cast for two weeks, after which he returned to the Cardinals. During a game in August, Hornsby threw up his hands in disgust in response to a sign flashed by Rickey. After the game, he and Rickey got in a fight in the clubhouse, but teammates quickly broke it up. Hornsby missed several games late in the year with injuries that the Cardinals (and Hyland) did not believe to be serious, though, and he was fined $500 and suspended for the last five games of the year. However, Hornsby still won his fourth consecutive National League batting title by batting .384. He also repeated as the leader in on-base percentage (.459) and slugging percentage (.627).

Hornsby raised his average to .424 in 1924, which is the sixth highest batting average in a single season in MLB history (and the 20th century NL record). He also led the league with 89 walks, producing a .507 on-base percentage. His slugging percentage of .696 again led the league, as did his 121 runs scored, 227 hits, and 43 doubles. He also managed to hit 25 home runs that season. That year, the National League reintroduced its Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. Although Hornsby was expected to win the award, it went to Dazzy Vance instead. It turned out that Cincinnati voter Jack Ryder had left Hornsby's name off his ballot altogether, because he believed Hornsby was an MVP to himself, but not to his team. In 1962, the Baseball Writers Association of America made up for Ryder's decision by presenting Hornsby with an award retroactively recognizing him as the 1924 MVP.

In 1925, Sam Breadon, the owner of the Cardinals, began looking to replace Rickey as the manager. He offered Hornsby the job at first, but Hornsby declined. Then, when Hornsby found out that Rickey planned to sell his stock in the Cardinals if he was replaced as field manager, Hornsby agreed to take the job as long as Breadon would help him purchase the stock. Breadon agreed, and Hornsby became the Cardinals' manager. Hornsby finished the year with his second Triple Crown, when he combined a .403 batting average with 39 home runs and 143 RBI. He bested teammate Jim Bottomley in the batting title race by nearly 40 points. This year, he managed to win the MVP Award, receiving 73 out of 80 possible votes. His .756 slugging percentage set an NL record. Meanwhile, the Cardinals finished in fourth place. During the year, his wife Jeanette had a son, Billy.

Hornsby had an off-year offensively in 1926, as he hit only .317 with 11 home runs. Nonetheless, St. Louis won its first ever National League pennant. The Cardinals defeated the New York Yankees in a seven-game World Series, with Hornsby tagging out Babe Ruth on a stolen base attempt to end the Series and give St. Louis its first undisputed world championship. Following the season, Hornsby was due for a new contract, and he demanded one for three years and $50,000 per year. However, Cardinals owner Sam Breadon was only willing to give Hornsby a one-year contract for the $50,000 he wanted. When Hornsby refused to budge, the Cardinals traded him to the New York Giants for Frankie Frisch and Jimmy Ring on December 20, 1926. The trade was postponed for a little while, however, because National League president John Heydler that Hornsby could not play with the Giants while he held stock in the Cardinals. Hornsby wanted $105 per share of his stock, which was more than Breadon wanted to give him. Finally, though, shortly before 1927 started, Hornsby was able to sell his shares at $105 each, enabling him to become a Giant.

New York Giants

Hornsby enjoyed a better season in 1927, as he hit .361 and led the league in runs scored (133), walks (86), and on-base percentage (.448). He managed the Giants part of the year as well, due to health problems with John McGraw, the actual manager of the Giants. His performance helped guide the Giants to a 92–62 record during the season, which was good enough for third place in the National League. However, Hornsby's gambling problems at the racetrack, among other things, annoyed Giants owner Charles Stoneham. As a result, in the offseason he was traded to the Boston Braves for Jimmy Welsh and Shanty Hogan.

Boston Braves

With the Braves in 1928, Hornsby was again the league's most productive hitter, winning his seventh batting title with a .387 average, and also leading the league in on-base percentage (.498), slugging percentage (.632), and walks (107). One month into the season, manager Jack Slattery resigned, and the Braves hired Hornsby to be his replacement. The Braves did not do very well, however, as they finished in seventh place in the NL. They were struggling financially as well, and when the Chicago Cubs offered $200,000 and five players, the Braves found the offer too good to pass up.

Chicago Cubs

Hornsby hit .380 in 1929 for Chicago while recording 39 home runs and leading the league with a .679 slugging percentage and 156 runs scored. The .380 batting average set a Cubs team record. He also collected another Most Valuable Player award, and the Cubs won the National League pennant. However, they lost the World Series to the Philadelphia Athletics in five games, and Hornsby batted just .238 with one RBI. He also set a World Series record for strikeouts, with eight.

Hornsby started off the 1930 season strong, and was batting .325 with two home runs by May 30. However, in the first game of a doubleheader against the Cardinals, Hornsby broke his ankle while advancing to third base. He did not return until August 19, and he was used mostly as a pinch-hitter for the rest of the season. However, he was named the team's manager when Joe McCarthy was fired with four games to go in the season. Hornsby finished the year with a .308 batting average and two home runs.

On April 24, 1931, Hornsby hit three home runs and drove in eight in a 10–6 victory over Pittburgh. Hornsby played in 44 of the first 48 games, but after slumping he only played himself about half the time for the rest of the year. In 100 games, he still had 90 RBI and hit 37 doubles, with a batting average of .331. He also led the league in on-base percentage (.421) for the ninth time in his career. However, 1931 was his last year as a full-time player. Meanwhile, Hornsby's Cubs finished 84–70, 17 games back of the pennant-winning Cardinals, and four games back of the Giants.

In 1932, Hornsby's feet were bothering him,[63] and he did not play his first game until May 29. Hornsby played right field from May 29 to June 10, appeared in two games as a pinch hitter, played third base from July 14 through July 18, and played one last game as a Cub when he pinch-hit on July 31. On August 2, although the Cubs were in second place, Hornsby was released, and Charlie Grimm replaced him as manager. The release occurred because William Veeck, Sr., who was running the team, was not happy with the way Hornsby was managing the Cubs. In 19 games, Hornsby had batted .224 with one home run and seven RBI. Although the Cubs made the World Series that year, the players voted not to give Hornsby any of the World Series money. It turned out to be Hornsby's last year as a regular player.

St. Louis Cardinals and Browns

Hornsby did not play again for the rest of 1932, but the Cardinals signed him on October 24 for the 1933 season. That year, he began operating a baseball school in Hot Springs, Texas, that he would run from 1933 to 1942 and 1948 to 1951 with various associates. Hornsby would be used only as a player, though; the Cardinals did not want him as a manager. He played regularly at second base from April 25 through May 5, but he was used mostly as a pinch hitter with the Cardinals. On July 22, he had his final National League hit in a 9–5 loss to the Braves. Through July 23, Hornsby was batting .325 with two home runs and 21 RBI. However, the Cardinals chose to place him on waivers.

Hornsby went unclaimed by any National League team, but he was claimed by the last place St. Louis Browns on July 26 as player-manager. Bill Killefer had just resigned as Browns manager, and Browns owner Phil Ball wanted Hornsby as a replacement. Hornsby appeared in 11 games for the Browns. He had three hits, including a home run, in nine at-bats. However, the Browns finished in last place in the American League.

In 1934, Hornsby started only two games, one at third base, and the other in right field. In all of his other appearances, he was a pinch hitter. However, he batted .304 with one home run and 11 RBIs. The Browns improved on their previous season, but they finished in sixth place. Hornsby started four of the ten games he played in 1935. From April 16 through April 21, he started at first base, and he started at third base on May 22. He finished the year with five hits and a .208 average. Meanwhile, the Browns slipped to seventh place.

In 1936, Hornsby only appeared in two games with the team. On May 31, his pinch-hit single in the ninth inning gave the Browns an 11–10 win over the Detroit Tigers. In his other appearance on June 9, he played first base in a 5–3 win over the Yankees. Meanwhile, the Browns again finished in seventh place. In 1937, Hornsby played in 20 games. On April 21, in his first game of the year, Hornsby hit the final home run of his career in a 15–10 victory over the Chicago White Sox. On July 5, he had the final hit of his career in a 15–4 loss in the second game of a doubleheader with the Cleveland Indians.

On July 20, he appeared in what would be his final game in a 5–4 loss to the Yankees. A day later, Hornsby was fired as manager and released as a player by the Browns, who were in last place at the time of his release. An incident with Browns' owner Donald Barnes also had to do with his release. On July 15, Hornsby won $35,000 from betting on a horse race. When he tried to use $4,000 of this money to pay off a debt to Barnes, Barnes refused it, since it had come from a bookmaker. Hornsby protested to Barnes, "The money is as good as the money you take from people in the loan-shark business. It's better than taking interest from widows and orphans... "; that made his release five days later an easy decision for Barnes. Hornsby finished the 1937 season with a .321 batting average and 11 hits in 20 games.

Later baseball career

Following his release from the Browns, Hornsby was unable to retire because his gambling had lost him much of his money over the years. He signed as a player-coach with the Baltimore Orioles of the International League in 1938 before leaving them to manage (and play for) the Chattanooga Lookouts of the Southern Association for the rest of the season. Hornsby then returned to the Orioles to manage them for 1939, but he did not return to the club following the season. Halfway through 1940, he signed to manage the Oklahoma City Indians of the Texas League. He led them from last place to the Texas League playoffs, where they fell to the Houston Buffaloes in four games. Hornsby began 1941 managing the Indians once again, but he resigned in the middle of the season. In November, he became the general and field manager of the Fort Worth Cats, also of the Texas league. Fort Worth finished in third place and made the playoffs in 1942, but they were eliminated in the first round by the Shreveport Sports.

Hornsby went unsigned by any team in 1943, but he signed as a player-manager with the Vera Cruz Blues of La Liga Mexicana in Mexico in 1944. After hitting a game-winning grand slam for the second win of a series in March, he resigned when the team owner complained that the win would diminish the crowd for the third game of the series. Following his release, he did some commentary for radio station WTMV, assisted the Cleveland Indians in spring training in 1947, and became a TV announcer for Chicago Cubs games in 1949.

Hornsby did not become a manager or coach again until 1950, when he was hired to manage the Texas League's Beaumont Roughnecks. Beaumont won the pennant, but they were swept in the first round of the playoffs by the San Antonio Missions. The next year, in 1951, Hornsby managed the Seattle Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League. Under Hornsby's leadership, the Rainiers won the pennant.

In 1952, Hornsby was again hired to manage the St. Louis Browns—his first major league job in 16 years. The Browns' owner, Bill Veeck, was the son of former Cubs president and general manager William Veeck, Sr. He was not well received by the players, however. On June 9, he was fired due to a disagreement with Bill Veeck, owner of the Browns, over an incident against the New York Yankees the day before. During the game, a fan prevented Gil McDougald of the Yankees from catching a fly ball, and the umpire ruled that it was fan interference. Hornsby did not initially argue the call, and a few minutes later Veeck forced him to do it (when it was already too late to do anything about it). This led to Hornsby and the Browns parting ways. The Browns players were so happy about Hornsby's firing that they gave Veeck an engraved trophy to thank him.

A little over a month later, on July 26, Hornsby was hired to replace Luke Sewell as manager of the Cincinnati Reds. After Hornsby completed two mediocre seasons with the club, the Reds announced that he would not return for 1954. He finished his MLB managerial career with a record of 701–812. Following his dismissal, Hornsby worked as a coach for the Chicago Cubs from 1958 to 1960 before becoming a scout and third base coach for the New York Mets in 1962. In 1963, Hornsby died of a heart attack. He was buried in the Hornsby family cemetery in Hornsby Bend, Texas.

Legacy as a player

Hornsby is known as one of the greatest hitters of all time. His lifetime batting average of .358 is only exceeded by Ty Cobb's career mark of .367. He won seven batting titles in total, a feat tied or exceeded by only five players (Cobb (11), Tony Gwynn (8), Honus Wagner (8), Rod Carew (7), and Stan Musial (7)). Hornsby led the National League in slugging percentage nine times, a record that still stands. He also hit more home runs, drove in more runs, and had a higher batting average than any other National League player during the 1920s, which makes him one of four players in baseball history (along with Honus Wagner, Ted Williams, and Albert Pujols) to win a "decade" triple crown. He hit a career total of 301 home runs and was the first National League player to hit 300. His 264 homers as a second baseman was a major league record for that position until Joe Morgan surpassed him in 1984. Hornsby was also a very consistent hitter whether he was playing at home or on the road. His lifetime home batting average was .359, and his lifetime away batting average was .358. Ted Williams said that Hornsby was the greatest hitter for power and average in baseball, and Frankie Frisch said of him, "He's the only guy I know who could hit .350 in the dark." Hornsby also holds second place on the unofficial major league record list of "consecutive games with two or more hits" with 13 games, first place honors going to Count Campau's 15-game streak. Hornsby is the only right-handed batter in history to hit over .400 three times and is considered to be the greatest right-handed hitter in history. He led the National League in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and total bases every year from 1920 to 1925.

Line-Up for Yesterday H is for Hornsby; When pitching to Rog, The pitcher would pitch, Then the pitcher would dodge.

— Ogden Nash, SPORT (January 1949)

Hornsby was also renowned for his speed, and was considered to be the fastest player in the National League in his prime. Pie Traynor said that Hornsby would have beaten Mickey Mantle to first base from the right hand batter's box. Hornsby did not try to steal very often but used his speed to take extra bases. Between 1916 and 1927 Hornsby had 30 inside-the-park home runs, and he led the league with 17 triples in 1917 and 18 triples in 1921; he had 20 triples in 1920.

However, Hornsby was often hard to get along with. He usually left a team because he annoyed the team's owner. Most of the players he managed did not like him, although some (like Woody English and Clint Courtney) did. Hornsby never played cards, but he did bet frequently on horse races, and he lost more than he won. His gambling was often a factor in his dismissal from a team. By most contemporary accounts, he was at least as mean and nasty as Cobb. He never went to movies, convinced that it would harm a batter's eyesight, and he never smoked or drank.

Hornsby was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1942. In 1999, Hornsby was ranked ninth on The Sporting News list of Baseball's Greatest Players. Later that year, he was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. In 2001, writer Bill James ranked him as the 22nd greatest player and the third greatest second baseman in baseball history. Hornsby has also been recognized on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

Personal life

On September 23, 1918, Hornsby married Sarah Elizabeth Martin, whom he had known since he played for the Denison Railroaders. They had a son, Rogers Hornsby, Jr., on November 15, 1920. However, during 1922, he began seeing Jeanette Pennington Hine, who was married to an automobile-supply salesman named John Hine. They each divorced their spouses in 1923 and were married on February 28, 1924. As a result of the divorce, Sarah Hornsby took custody of Rogers Jr.

Rogers and Jeanette had a son, Billy, on June 2, 1925. Billy played baseball for several years in the minor leagues, but never reached the majors. However, they became estranged in December 1944. After they became estranged, Hornsby began seeing a woman named Bernadette Harris, whom he called his "personal good friend and secretary," in 1945. They began living together in 1948, and they lived together until Harris committed suicide by jumping out of a third-story window on September 7, 1953. The suicide was attributed to depression. Following Jeanette's death on June 1, 1956, Hornsby married Marjorie Bernice Frederick Porter on January 27, 1957. They remained together until Hornsby's death in 1963.